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Article: Turn out the stars; The universe.('The Extravagant Universe: Exploding Stars, Dark Energy and the Accelerating Cosmos')(Book Review)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- November 30, 2002
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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If you were hoping for a simple universe, the prevailing theory of how it works is repellent, even to scientists who propounded it
WHAT is the fate of the universe? Cosmologists tell us that it all began with a big bang, and has been expanding ever since. But what will happen next? Until recently, it was thought that there were only two possible answers, depending on the net weight of all the galaxies in the universe. If the mass exceeded a certain threshold, then the relentless attractive force of gravity would pull the galaxies back together, ultimately reversing the expansion and causing everything to implode in a catastrophic big crunch. Or, if there was not ...